Marketing and Management Report: G Adventures in Australian Market

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of G Adventures' marketing strategies within the Australian market. It begins with an executive summary outlining the report's objectives, which include examining G Adventures' market strategies, internal and external factors, segmentation, targeting, and positioning. The report delves into the company profile, product/service offerings, and a 5C's analysis to determine the internal environment, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also explores the customer profile, collaborators, and competitors. The report then assesses the external environment, including political, economic, social, and technological factors. It outlines the market research mechanisms used by G Adventures, identifies the potential target market, and recommends marketing mix strategies concerning product, price, place, and promotion. The report concludes with recommendations and a summary of the key findings.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and management
Name of student
Name of the university
Author note

1MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the market strategies being followed by G adventures in
the current market scenario. In addition, this report also discussed about the internal and external
factors being faced by them. There are number of positive and negative factors being identified.
This report stated the ideal segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies for G adventures.
This report concludes with number of recommendations along with recommending an ideal
marketing mix strategy.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Company profile..........................................................................................................................3
Product/service offerings.............................................................................................................4
5C’s of G adventures.......................................................................................................................5
Determination of the internal environment..................................................................................5
Customer profile..........................................................................................................................6
Collaborators................................................................................................................................7
Competitors..................................................................................................................................7
Determination of the external environment.................................................................................9
Market research mechanism..........................................................................................................10
Determination of the potential target market.................................................................................11
Identification of the target market.................................................................................................11
Segmentation.............................................................................................................................11
Targeting....................................................................................................................................12
Positioning.................................................................................................................................12
Recommended marketing mix strategies.......................................................................................15
Product.......................................................................................................................................15
Price...........................................................................................................................................16
Place...........................................................................................................................................16

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Promotion..................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
Reference.......................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Marketing plays an important role in enhancing the business effectiveness and
performance of the organizations. Moreover, in the current business scenario, the role played by
the marketing is more important and holds more value for the business organizations. This is due
to the reason that in the current competitive business scenario, organizations should have
effective marketing strategies in order to stay ahead in the competition (Akaka, Vargo and Lusch
2013). However, it is also to be noted that prior to the initiation of marketing strategies, there are
number of factors that should be considered by the marketing organizations.
This report will discuss about the different marketing aspects for G adventures in
Australia. In addition, the external and internal environmental factors will be discussed for G
adventures. Based on this, the potential target market segment will be identified along with
determining the positioning statement for them. In accordance to the identified factors, this
report will state the ideal marketing mix strategies for them.
Company profile
G adventures are one of the leading tour service companies in Australian market.
Currently, they are holding a significant market share in the Australian market. They are founded
in 1990 with just having a handful of employees in the initial stage to having more than 2000
country presence around the world along with having more than 20 offices. They are mainly
known for their customized and small groups travel plan (Gadventures.com 2018). The mission
statement of G adventures states that they want to offer distinctive and unique tour experience
for the travelers and offers the maximum value for the customers. They also target to provide the
travelers with authentic experiences without being too professional.

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It is identified that G adventures is market oriented due to the fact that they design their
service offerings in accordance to the market trend and requirements. As per the information on
their official website of G adventures, they offer number of tour services to match with different
set of requirements of different set of travelers. Moreover, the mission of them of providing
customized services in small tour groups is also an element of marketing orientation of G
adventures. Moreover, they are marketing oriented organization due to the reason that their
major concentration is mainly on the distinctiveness of service quality rather than on the regions
and locations covered (Salyova et al. 2015). It denotes that G adventures are more oriented
towards the providing effective travel experience rather than offering more tour locations to the
customers. However, they still offer good number of locations to their customers.
Product/service offerings
G adventures offer tour services to the travelers around the world. As per the available
information, they are providing large diversity of exotic locations ranging from mountains to
seas and Arctic and Antarctic expeditions (Cabiddu, Lui and Piccoli 2013). In terms of the
service customization, they offer varieties of the resorts, cruises and motor coach.
Accommodations are having number of varieties to meet different requirements of the customers
and to target customers across different income levels.
The positive branding of G adventures is helping them to push their service offerings in
the market. This is due to the fact that the branding of G adventures in providing customized
travel experience along with the more than 20 years of the operation in this sector have helped
them to built positive brand image and recall in the market. This is helping them to effectively
penetrate in the market with their new offerings.

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5C’s of G adventures
Determination of the internal environment
Strengths  Positive brand image for being the world’s largest adventure travel
company (Severi and Ling 2013).
 High market penetration in the Australian market (Stummer et al.
2015).
 Offering large and diverse number of locations.
 Offering customized and authentic tour experience.
Weaknesses  They are not having significant global presence.
 Their service offerings do not cater to mainstream travelers, rather
they are having niche customer segment (Toften and Hammervoll
2013).
 They are not having brand value as some of their global competitors.
Opportunities  Market for Eco tourism is increasing (Chiu, Lee and Chen 2014).
 More customers are willing to have customized and authentic tour
experience.
 Entering in some foreign markets will further increase their business
potentiality.
Threats  Emergence of more competitors in the market.
 Initiation of new rule and regulations regarding visiting a few places.
 Economic recession will cause reduction in the potential target
customers (Cowling et al. 2015).

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Thus, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that G adventures are having number
of key resources. One of their key resources is positive brand image that helps them to cater to
the target market effectively. In addition, the human resources for G adventures can also be
termed as their key resources. This is due to the fact that human resources of G adventures help
in gaining competitive advantages by providing distinctive service to the customers including
providing guidance to the travelers during the tour (Shamaileh and Khanfar 2014). However, on
the other hand, there are number of negative factors also being identified. It is identified that
origination of the economic recession may cause reduction in the number of potential customers
due to the reason that economic recession will reduce the purchasing power of the customers to
spend money for tour activities.
Customer profile
Currently, G adventures are offering services to the travelers seeking adventure in their
tour activities. In accordance to that, G adventures provides majority of the adventurous
activities to their customers. Thus, the target market for G adventures is the younger generation
with having adventurous attributes. It is identified that the target customers for G adventures
expect that they will be provided authentic local experience of the destination region (Canhoto,
Clark and Fennemore 2013). In addition, the target customers for G adventures prefer more real
world experience rather than being cocooned in the higher end accommodation. These customers
are also inclined towards visiting more extreme locations. These customers will not get attracted
towards popular destinations rather they will get attracted for more offbeat locations.

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Collaborators
The major collaborators for G adventures are the resorts that help them in providing
effective accommodations to the travelers. G adventures are having collaboration with different
resorts and home stay services in different locations around the world. They are important for G
adventures due to the fact that quality of the accommodation will determine the level of
satisfaction for the travelers. Another key ally for them is the travel agents who help them in
managing the ticket booking mechanism for the travelers along with dealing with the new and
potential customers (Tseng 2014). The local communities can also be considered as their key ally
due to the fact that tours of G adventures always involve the local communities. This is having
dual advantage by empowering the local communities in involving them. These local
communities are involved in providing guidance to the tourist and offering authentic local
cuisines and experiences to the travelers.
Competitors
The major competitors for G adventures are intrepid, Intro travels, Cosmos, Ultimate
travel and Globus. All these players are operating in the same market and they are catering to the
same set of target customers. Thus, it can be concluded that the market scenario for G adventures
is much competitive.
Threat of new entrants  Threat of new entrants is high due to the fact that low
investment is required to start tourism business in small
scale (E. Dobbs 2014).
 Rules and regulations in relation to the domestic
tourism are less.

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 Thus, it will further increase the threat of new entrants.
Bargaining power of the buyers  Bargaining power of the buyers is moderate (Sheu and
Gao 2014).
 Number of options is available for the buyers.
 However, loyalty level of the buyers in this sector is
high (Segoro 2013).
 Brand value and image also matters for the buyers.
Bargaining power of the
suppliers
 Bargaining power of the suppliers is higher.
 Dependence on the suppliers is more for G adventures.
 Suppliers determine the level of customer satisfaction
(Fabbri and Klapper 2016).
Threat of substitute  Threat of substitute is high.
 Availability of number of players is increasing the
threat of substitute.
 Switching cost is also lower.
Competitive rivalry  Competitive rivalry is high.
 Rival organizations are initiating newer strategies to
stay ahead in the competition (Singal 2015).
 Different promotional events and offers are being
carried out by the players in the market.
Determination of the external environment

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Political factors  Political factors are diverse for G adventures due to the fact that
they cater to the international tourist also.
 Having different political scenario in different region may pose
challenge for G adventures to adhere with (Boddewyn 2015).
 Different countries are having different regulations for the
international tourist. Thus, it is difficult for G adventures to
maintain their operation in different regions.
 It is also important for G adventures to adhere to the legal
formalities in managing the international tourists.
Economical factors  Change in the global economy will have direct impact on the
business potential for G adventures.
 Cost of eco tourism is more and thus it will affect the business
of G adventures.
 Cost of operation will get increased in case of increase in the
cost of associated activities (Buscher and Davidov 2013). This
will increase the price and will reduce the customer share.
Social factors  Customers are becoming more aware about the eco tourism and
thus it will have positive impact on the business potentiality for
G adventures.
 However, social differences between the regions may pose
challenge in managing the group tours.
 There is always a risk of cultural clash in the case of
international tourism (Matzler et al. 2016).

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Technological factors  Technological development in ticket booking is changing the
existing scenario (MolChanova 2014).
 Different organizations are coming up with online portals to
manage their customers.
 Thus, it is important for G adventures to be always updated with
their technology in staying ahead in the competition.
Market research mechanism
G adventures are having effective market research mechanism in order to collect
information about their 5Cs. In order to collect information about the need and want of the
customers, G adventures initiate different activities including social media interactions. This
helps them to initiate direct communication with the customers and determining their need and
wants. Moreover, online market research is initiated in order to gain the practical insights of the
needs and wants of the customers (Cechanowicz et al. 2013). Online research is being done
through posting the questionnaires in the public portals. On the other hand, competitive analysis
is also being done by G adventures in order to gain information about the competitors also.
Initiation of the competitor analysis by comparing the performance of the rival organizations
with that of them helps them in identifying the nearest and close competitors.
Market data regarding the tourism industry is being used by G adventures in gaining
information about the market trend. Moreover, they periodically conduct five forces and PEST
analysis in order to have the idea about the change in the current market scenario. Accordingly,
they bring change to their strategies. In terms of determining the role of the collaborators, G